If the freeholder is the council, does that mean property is ex-council?

[Deleted User]

Just as the question, really! We've had an offer accepted on a property and done some research and discovered the freeholder is the local council. Does this mean the property is ex-council? Just as our mortgage lender does not lend to ex-council properties and now I'm worried! Thanks

HappyMJ

Possibly. You would have to look at the title register to find out.

Did you go through a mortgage broker to find the mortgage or did you find the mortgage yourself?

[Deleted User]

Through a mortgage broker, I have bad credit history so we're stuck with one of the 'last chance saloon' lenders unfortunately.

How would I look at the title register? Sorry to be dim!

HappyMJ

[Deleted User] wrote:

Through a mortgage broker, I have bad credit history so we're stuck with one of the 'last chance saloon' lenders unfortunately.

How would I look at the title register? Sorry to be dim!

Try this link. https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

It'll cost you £3 and your conveyancer will be doing it to but if you do it now yourself you can then go back to your broker and get a different mortgage.

If you have bad credit is it even worth buying a house? Renting is usually cheaper than a mortgage when the interest rates and payments are so high.

[Deleted User]

Yes we live in London where rent prices are so astronomical that even a mortgage with a high interest rate works out cheaper!

If I pay for that document what specifically am I looking for?

stator

Ex local authority will probably have something like this:

C: Charges Register
This register contains any charges and other matters
that affect the land.
1 (03.02.2003) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 27 January 2003
made between (1) The Council Of The City Of Plymouth and (2) X

[Deleted User]

Yep, definitely ex-council then. Gutted. Thanks for the help!

silvercar

Not automatically, the council could have sold the land to a developer who then sold it on to the first buyer.

davidmcn

As the question is really "is it ex-social housing", it's probably easier to tell that from its design, location, local knowledge etc than from the mere fact the council is freeholder. Post a link or pic and someone here will tell you.

System

It's not necessarily ex-'council housing'. In the 60's my grandmothers house had the freehold held by the local council but she had bought it on a 999 year lease. It never was a council house in the accepted sense.

It was a regular thing where the town council would build and own the freehold of houses and then sell them as leasehold,

Mummyisbeauty

Nope a lot of the houses in Solihull near where I live have the freeholder as the council even if they were never council houses.
Like my in laws and parent's house that were both never council houses as they were sold off plan but are built at the same time as the council housing by the same builders.